is300h Mark Levinson

[Gossy1988]

Hi everyone,

Not long picked up my (new to me) is300h premier. Stunning condition and love the ivory leather.

I have noticed that either the drivers door or dash speaker (closest to drivers door) has a crackle with certain songs... possibly the base.

Is this something that can be replaced under the Lexus Warranty?

The car is 2014 and has only 63k. Car was purchased from Lexus Swindon and has full lexus service history (if that makes a difference).

Failing that, is it easy for me to replace myself?

Thanks again for any advice.

[royoftherovers]

Take it straight back to Lexus Swindon Aaron and ask them to fix the problem. It is their responsibility regardless of Lexus Warranty. Good luck.

[Gossy1988]

Thanks Roy. I wasn't sure if this covered under the warranty. Will definitely get this booked in and sorted.

[royoftherovers]

2 minutes ago, Gossy1988 said:

Thanks Roy. I wasn't sure if this covered under the warranty. Will definitely get this booked in and sorted.

I`d indeed be surprised if Lexus would not accept responsibility under its own warranty Aaron, but I am saying that the Seller (Lexus Swindon) has a Statutory (legal) responsibility to fix it anyway.

Please keep us all posted.

[Linas.P]

Lexus usually gives extended warranty for "used approved cars", so it would be covered under that, but not original cover.

In either case as Roy suggested you can still take the car back as dealership is responsible to sort it out, unless they have clearly stated it had such issue before the sale. 

[Gossy1988]

The car came with 12 months extended warranty and I purchased an additional 2 years warranty.

Would I need to take it back to Swindon or could I take it to my nearest Lexus dealership, which would be Cardiff?

Travelling to Swindon again, with an 18month isn't the most enjoyable...

[Linas.P]

You can take it to any Lexus dealership, Lexus extended warranty to be honest is one of the best warranties around and any Lexus dealership will check you car for free and fix it for free (under warranty) if needed.

Most importantly, the dealership will handle the claim, so no need to negotiate any claims yourself and generally they don't spare any expenses. I suspect it is actually beneficial for dealership to find as many problems as they could as it brings guarantee business.

[Gossy1988]

Perfect, thanks Linus.

I heard the Lexus Warranty is one of the best. Looks like I'll be calling Cardiff tomorrow then.

[royoftherovers]

7 hours ago, Gossy1988 said:

Perfect, thanks Linus.

I heard the Lexus Warranty is one of the best. Looks like I'll be calling Cardiff tomorrow then.

It is the best Aaron.

I agree with what Linas has said ,but I would inform Lexus Swindon of your intentions as a matter of courtesy.

[Gossy1988]

I have just been on the phone to Swindon and advised them on the situation. Apparently I will be charged for the investigation, is this correct?

Just waiting on a call back to see if Swindon will cover my investigation costs if I take to Cardiff.  I would have thought this is all covered under the warranty.

[royoftherovers]

34 minutes ago, Gossy1988 said:

I have just been on the phone to Swindon and advised them on the situation. Apparently I will be charged for the investigation, is this correct?

Just waiting on a call back to see if Swindon will cover my investigation costs if I take to Cardiff.  I would have thought this is all covered under the warranty.

Aaron, I do not have details of the Lexus Extended Warranty that was given to you and so I cannot comment in respect of that warranty..

What I can say however is that the Seller (Lexus Swindon) is responsible for all of the costs of correcting the matter. The Seller cannot abdicate his Statutory responsibilities.

Swindon should inform Cardiff that it will cover all costs with fixing the problem. Should Cardiff`s investigations not identify a problem there will be nothing fix and so you should pay for the investigation of a problem which turned out not to be there !

I hope that seems clear to you.

[Linas.P]

No, that is wrong, it may be the language used i.e. if you say "it seems something is crackling, could you investigate" - they may want to charge it. Because such question neither states that you want to do this under warranty, nor that cars was sold with such fault for you.

However, in case of Swindon if you say - "you sold me car with crackling speaker and I want it fixed", then they could not charge for it (statutory rights).

In case of Cardiff, if you say - "it seems I have crackling speaker, could you check/fix under warranty", again they could not charge (Lexus warranty terms).

In both cases, you should not be charged for it no matter if they find the issue or not. I would say that issue is much more likely to be found and fixed when going the warranty route, then going statutory rights route. This is because Swindon would need to cover the costs themselves (pre-existing faults are not covered by warranty) and thus they may try to convince you that you are just imagining the issue. Whereas Cardiff has nothing to loose and everything to gain - if they find the issue they can get sweet warranty job. 

The only reservation I have - I have not checked if Swindon and Cardiff are part of the same network, if they are then they may try to cover for each other.

[royoftherovers]

5 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

No, that is wrong, it may be the language used i.e. if you say "it seems something is crackling, could you investigate" - they may want to charge it.

However, in case of Swindon if you say - "you sold me car with crackling speaker and I want it fixed", then they could not charge for it.

In case of Cardiff, if you say - "it seems I have crackling speaker, could you check/fix under warranty", again they could not charge.

I cannot agree your last line Linas my old friend.

I do not want 26  or any lines explaining your position.

We rest on our respective positions.

[Linas.P]

You don't think that checking faults under warranty should be free? or that dealerships of the say network may agree to cover for each other? I mean I may be wrong... 

[royoftherovers]

16 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

You don't think that checking faults under warranty should be free? or that dealerships of the say network may agree to cover for each other? I mean I may be wrong... 

Linas, A fault cannot be identified as falling within Warranty cover until an appropriate investigation has been completed.

If upon completion a fault does exist and the remedy falls within the terms of the Warranty cover, then yes the entire cost  can be charged to the Warranty.

If however upon completion of the investigation, a fault does not exist, then the costs of the investigation fall to be borne by the customer.

One does not check under Warranty, one fixes under Warranty.

[Gossy1988]

Again, I thank you all for the advice. Don't you worry, I did word it that the car was sold with a broken speaker.

I have now heard back from Swindon and as the car is still within the 30day purchase window, Swindon are required to fix the issue. After the 30days I could take to another dealer under the extended warranty agreement.

So the car is booked in and will be checked and repaired.

[royoftherovers]

17 minutes ago, Gossy1988 said:

Again, I thank you all for the advice. Don't you worry, I did word it that the car was sold with a broken speaker.

I have now heard back from Swindon and as the car is still within the 30day purchase window, Swindon are required to fix the issue. After the 30days I could take to another dealer under the extended warranty agreement.

So the car is booked in and will be checked and repaired.

Thanks for the update Aaron. It is welcome news apart from the fact  that you must travel to Swindon again.

Please keep us updated with the outcome. Enjoy the 300h.

[wharfhouse]

11 minutes ago, Gossy1988 said:

Again, I thank you all for the advice. Don't you worry, I did word it that the car was sold with a broken speaker.

I have now heard back from Swindon and as the car is still within the 30day purchase window, Swindon are required to fix the issue. After the 30days I could take to another dealer under the extended warranty agreement.

So the car is booked in and will be checked and repaired.

For future reference you will have one year Extended Warranty when you purchased from a Lexus dealer - you can then choose to extend this (within the limitations as set out by Lexus - also don't forget for an Extended Warranty to be valid the car must be serviced according to the schedule by a Lexus franchised dealer during the warranty period - this can be the Essentials Care servicing which is cheaper than the normal services for cars over 5 years old). However with the Extended Warranty the way it works is that Lexus will initially charge for an investigation of the reported issue and report back. If deemed an issue covered by the Extended Warranty the Lexus dealer will handle the claim on your behalf, do the work necessary and you won't be charged anything. If the investigation doesn't find anything wrong you will have to pay for the investigation. If they find something wrong not covered by the Extended Warranty (which would be unusual unless simply normal maintenance stuff) then you can decide how to proceed - whether the Lexus dealer charges for the investigation or discounts this in this overall repair cost is up to them. 

I have Extended Warranty on my car and have made a couple of claims and all went smoothly following the above process.

[Gossy1988]

13 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Thanks for the update Aaron. It is welcome news apart from the fact  that you must travel to Swindon again.

Please keep us updated with the outcome. Enjoy the 300h.

Will update once the car is hopefully sorted.

I am very much enjoying the 300h😀

Thanks again.

[Gossy1988]

13 minutes ago, wharfhouse said:

For future reference you will have one year Extended Warranty when you purchased from a Lexus dealer - you can then choose to extend this (within the limitations as set out by Lexus - also don't forget for an Extended Warranty to be valid the car must be serviced according to the schedule by a Lexus franchised dealer during the warranty period - this can be the Essentials Care servicing which is cheaper than the normal services for cars over 5 years old). However with the Extended Warranty the way it works is that Lexus will initially charge for an investigation of the reported issue and report back. If deemed an issue covered by the Extended Warranty the Lexus dealer will handle the claim on your behalf, do the work necessary and you won't be charged anything. If the investigation doesn't find anything wrong you will have to pay for the investigation. If they find something wrong not covered by the Extended Warranty (which would be unusual unless simply normal maintenance stuff) then you can decide how to proceed - whether the Lexus dealer charges for the investigation or discounts this in this overall repair cost is up to them. 

I have Extended Warranty on my car and have made a couple of claims and all went smoothly following the above process.

Thank you for letting me know that your claims have went smoothly and regarding how the investigation works.

The dealer did make me aware of the one year extended warranty being included, for peace of mind I purchased another two years. The car will only be serviced by Lexus, like my previous is220d, which was still a great car (just not up to the "usual" Lexus standard).

From my discussions with Lexus Swindon, as I am still within the 30 day purchase window, this appears to be separate to a warranty claim as the car was sold with a fault. However, they deal with this I don't mind as long as the speaker(s) are sorted.

[wharfhouse]

28 minutes ago, Gossy1988 said:

Thank you for letting me know that your claims have went smoothly and regarding how the investigation works.

The dealer did make me aware of the one year extended warranty being included, for peace of mind I purchased another two years. The car will only be serviced by Lexus, like my previous is220d, which was still a great car (just not up to the "usual" Lexus standard).

From my discussions with Lexus Swindon, as I am still within the 30 day purchase window, this appears to be separate to a warranty claim as the car was sold with a fault. However, they deal with this I don't mind as long as the speaker(s) are sorted.

Yes the 30 day period is something else. Once outside of that the Extended Warranty will apply. In my experience with the Extended Warranty you are nearly as well covered as a new car warranty - my claims were for a failed windscreen washer bottle sensor (not exactly that important but was covered and would have been some £400 to replace without the warranty) and both front wheel bearings (at 80k miles) - went in for one to be investigated for a noise and Lexus found it was worn so replaced that under the Extended Warranty and then on checking the other side the Lexus dealer thought that was showing signs of wear as well (after comparing to the new one) and so replaced that within the Extended Warranty too. I chose to have the disks and pads replaced at the same time (which would have needed doing within probably a year or so anyway) as they were doing the bearings and so made some savings on that too (which were of course classed as usual maintenance in that case). 

[Linas.P]

3 hours ago, wharfhouse said:

However with the Extended Warranty the way it works is that Lexus will initially charge for an investigation of the reported issue and report back.

Interesting... This certainly was not the case when I asked to check the seat on my RC200t... What I said - "it seems that seat motors are weak and fails to raise it", Lexus Woodford never told me there could be cost associated with checking this. They just said - "sure, do you want courtesy car whilst we check". Now considering complexity of checking and resulting repair costs I would expect "investigation price" would have been considerable and if indeed I would have been responsible covering it I am not sure I would have taken it to Lexus as light-heartedly as I did. And thus I am very surprised I was not told this could be the case!

3 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

If however upon completion of the investigation, a fault does not exist, then the costs of the investigation fall to be borne by the customer.

You don't need to be afraid to tell me if I am wrong... if that is the case then that is the case. The only reason why I said it is not chargeable is because (as above) in my experience Lexus never mentioned that to me.

[wharfhouse]

1 minute ago, Linas.P said:

Interesting... This certainly was not the case when I asked to check the seat on my RC200t... What I said - it seems that seat motors are wear and fails to raise it, Lexus Woodford never told me there could be cost associated with checking this. They just said - "sure, do you want courtesy car whilst we check". Now considering complexity of checking and resulting repair costs I would expect "investigation price" would have been considerable and if indeed I would have been responsible covering it I am not sure I would have taken it to Lexus as light-heartedly as I did. And thus I am very surprised I was not told this could be the case!

You don't need to be afraid to tell me if I am wrong... if that is the case then that is the case. The only reason why I said it is not chargeable is because (as above) in my experience Lexus never mentioned that to me.

That's interesting as I've always been told that there will be an investigation fee that is waived if any subsequent repair is found that is covered by the extended warranty - in the two cases I had claimed for that is what happened - I agreed to those terms but all was covered by the warranty so nothing to pay on my side. In another case I asked for a water leak into the passenger well to be investigated and again the same investigation fee was agreed though in the end the technician removed the side trim of the dash and said definitely a leak from the windscreen (a new one had been fitted a few months earlier - not by Lexus) and I should go back to the fitters (which I did and they fitted a new windscreen, but that's a different story!). As it only took Lexus a few minutes to check and draw that conclusion they didn't charge me for that investigation (I do have the car serviced and other items like tyres fitted at that dealer so they know me quite well now). 

There may be some differences in how the dealer reacts based on how obvious the faults are - if it's a no-brainer maybe they don't worry about mentioning the investigation fee but if they think it may be outside the warranty or something mistaken by the driver they tell you about the investigation fee to cover themselves and make sure the driver is serious about it being looked into? 

[paulrnx]

Don’t forget that any fault that is found within the first three months of ownership is deemed to have been there at time of purchase. A fault like this would certainly fall into this category. I’d likely refuse to pay an investigation charge because I would counter that the fault was there at purchase and has to be fixed. It would be a choice for the dealer whether to claim on the warranty or to just do the repair themselves. Key to this will be that is a permanent and easily reproducible fault rather than one of those annoying intermittent ones that come and go. Good luck with repair, I’m sure that Lexus / dealership will do the right thing. This is one of the reasons I drive a Lexus.

[royoftherovers]

5 minutes ago, paulrnx said:

Don’t forget that any fault that is found within the first three months of ownership is deemed to have been there at time of purchase. A fault like this would certainly fall into this category. I’d likely refuse to pay an investigation charge because I would counter that the fault was there at purchase and has to be fixed. It would be a choice for the dealer whether to claim on the warranty or to just do the repair themselves. Key to this will be that is a permanent and easily reproducible fault rather than one of those annoying intermittent ones that come and go. Good luck with repair, I’m sure that Lexus / dealership will do the right thing. This is one of the reasons I drive a Lexus.

Paul, it is within 6 months of purchase.